Today, we change the Kids Creative logo to Orange to honor the start of National Gun Violence Awareness Month.Gun violence is a pressing issue for many NYC communities. Kids Creative is joining city officials and organizations to bring visibility to ending gun violence through a city-wide campaign, “Go Orange.”

We all have a role to play in stopping gun violence, especially the Arts. But How do we, as artists, prevent gun violence?

We need see gun violence prevention as a Long Term issue. We are not police, we cannot stop a gun from going off. However, if we look to tackle gun violence in the long term, we can identify many solutions. We have to take a step back and think about what circumstances led to someone using a gun at all.

When we consider conflicts in Kids Creative, confidence is key:

Do the people involved in the conflict have enough confidence in themselves and in others to be able to resolve the conflict without having to resort to something as powerfully lethal as a gun?

What tools do they need to see alternatives to violence?

What can we do to foresee conflicts before they happen and boost each person’s confidence in their conflict resolution skills?

The choice to use a gun in an altercation starts well before someone even has the altercation or picks up the gun. Kids Creative uses the arts to empower children to have a voice. They get to be the creative drivers of their own lives. Our participants have the ability to use their imaginations and develop their ideas into a piece of music, art or theater. However, they also have the responsibility to listen to the ideas of others and to truly consider their input on a larger scale. Being able to take a step back, hear the ideas of others and use empathy is one step to resolve conflicts using non-violent methods.

Many members of the Kids Creative family (students and staff) live in areas with high incidents of gun violence. Our programs provide a safe space for students and staff alike. They give them the opportunity to imagine a world where guns don’t have to exist, and where conflicts are resolved peacefully.The next time you help empower a child to resolve their conflict peacefully, you are giving that child an alternative to using a gun. For us at Kids Creative, that is what Going Orange is all about.